Woman sentenced to 40 years for child cruelty

Font size

BATON ROUGE - A woman from St. Gabriel was sentenced to 40 years in jail with no chance of probation or home incarceration in a child cruelty case.

Charlotte Staggs was convicted in October for second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. She previously rejected the state's offer to plead guilty in exchange for a 25-year sentence.

Staggs was arrested after her stepson was rushed to a hospital in 2009 after ingesting fingernail polish remover. Medical personnel said the boy, who is now 4 years old, was malnourished and dehydrated, had bruises and scrapes on his body and a distinctive burn mark from a fork on his right thigh.

The boy has since been adopted by his grandparents. The boy's mother died in the summer of 2008.

The boy's father, Steven Staggs, 29, faces trial as well on a charge of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. A trial date has not been set.